Website Calculates How Much Water Your Yard Needs

WYLIE (CBS 11 NEWS) – A new website is offering consumers an easy way calculate how long they need to water their lawns to keep them healthy, despite once-a-week water restrictions.

In a partnership with the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, the North Texas Municipal Water District has launched a website called watermyyard.org. By signing up, and putting in certain parameters concerning the type of irrigation system they have, residents will get weekly emails telling them how long they should be watering their lawns, taking the guess work out of how to keep lawns healthy in the summer heat.

The WaterMyYard project uses weather stations, strategically placed within the district, that calculate things like humidity, solar radiation, wind and rainfall. Using data from one of seven weather stations located closest to the user’s home, the site sends an email telling the homeowner how long to water. Normally, residents are told their lawns need so many inches of water. This system converts that to a user-friendly amount of time.

Using the system not only saves the homeowners water and money but saves long term water resources.

The problem for many is not knowing how long to water their lawn, said Shelly Farrell, manager at Classic Gardens Nursery. Many people often over water their lawns which is equally as bad for plants and grass.

“If you over water, it doesn’t matter what time of year, you can get a fungus and kill your plant that way,” she said.

Farrell often recommends her customers calculate on their own how much water their irrigation systems provide, so they can figure out how long to water. But the watermyyard.org does the work for them.

The service is free to North Texas Municipal Water District users.

Tarrant Regional Water District plans to implement weather stations across their district soon.